Africa World Airlines plans sub-region domination

Africa World Airlines (AWA) is to increase its offering on its regional and domestic routes this year as it scales-up its operations.

The Accra-based airline, which currently operates regional flights to Lagos, Nigeria is looking to bring in more equipment and increase its offering to the populous West African country.

Captain Samuel Thompson, Chief Operations Officer (COO) of AWA told the B&FT that: “We intend to increase our frequencies to our destinations that are good. We intend to maintain a regular three or more flight to Lagos a day, increase our frequency to Kumasi and Tamale.”

AWA in December 2013 started servicing the Murtala Mohammed Airport in Lagos and has sustained the service over the past four years to the admiration of patrons; on a route also serviced by Arik, Aero and Med-view.

“We have cemented our presence on the Nigerian market. We are going to increase our frequency to the Nigerian market and we want to set the bar so high that anybody coming in will find it difficult,” Captain Thompson noted.

To see-off competition, AWA is to take delivery of two more aircraft by the end of this month to augment its fleet for the competition ahead.

“We will develop new routes with the Embraer 145 that we have. We have three now and we are bringing in two by the end of January and then in the middle of the year, we will bring in a bigger airplane. It will definitely be a bigger aeroplane with two classes.

People try to buy all this modern airplanes but you have to look at the market and look at what you want to do. Because you might get a bigger aeroplane that takes 200 people but you are always filling that with 100 people. In that case, your numbers will not look right. We have done a good study and we think we will bring the right aeroplane for what we want to do. But once we bring a medium-sized aeroplane and we think the market is growing, then we will bring a bigger one.

Africa World Airlines was incorporated on November 15, 2010 as a joint-venture between HNA Group (China) -- parent company of Hainan Airlines, the only Skytrax rated five-star airline in China, founded in 1993; SAS Finance Group (Ghana); China-Africa Development Fund (CAD-Fund, China); and the Social Security and National Insurance (SSNIT).